Incumbent US Sen. Brian Schatz wins Hawaii primary

HONOLULU (AP) — Fresh off a primary election, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said he wants to make clean energy the same priority in Washington as it is in his native Hawaii.

“It’s the challenge of our generation,” Schatz told The Associated Press following an easy victory in Hawaii’s Democratic primary on Saturday. “It’s an area where American leadership is essential and we’ve made a lot of progress over the last two years.”

Schatz was part of a delegation of 10 Democratic U.S. senators that went to Paris to show their support for the 2015 climate talks and to stress the urgency of the issue.

Some Republican lawmakers are skeptical of whether global warming is real or whether proposed remedies would work.

While in Washington Schatz has introduced legislation on reducing the use of fossil fuels and Hawaii leads the nation in its initiatives to become completely energy independent by 2045.